Anonymous, Greek Anthology 9.475

One of a group of epigrams imagining the words of mythological characters. This one has the title

τίνας ἂν εἴποι λόγους Ἑλένη ὁρῶσα τὸν Μενέλαον καὶ τὸν Πάριδα μονομαχοῦντας.

What words Helen would say when she saw Menelaus and Paris fighting the duel,

referring to the duel at Iliad 3.324ff.

Εὐρώπης Ἀσίης τε δορισθενέες βασιλῆες,
ὑμῖν ἀμφοτέροισιν ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἵσταται ἄκμῆς,
τίς κεν ἐμὲ τλήθυμος ἕλοι δύστηνον ἀκοίτης·
Ζεὺς δὲ πατὴρ δικάσειεν, ἄνευθε δὲ Κυπρογενείης,
μὴ πάλιν ἄλλος ἕλῃ με γαμοκλόπος, αἶσχος Ἀχαιοῖς.

You kings, mighty with the spear, of Europe and Asia, for both of you it stands on a razor’s edge which of you staunch-hearted men will take wretched me in marriage. Let Father Zeus decide, but without the Cyprus-born one [=Aphrodite], lest another marriage-thief take me, a disgrace to the Achaeans.

Because αἶσχος ‘disgrace’ is neuter, it’s actually ambiguous whether the word is nominative (referring to the ‘marriage-thief’) or accusative (referring to Helen), and I’ve kept that ambiguity in the translation. Presumably Helen is referring to herself, just as she uses derogatory words about herself in the Iliad. Note too the near-anagram in the final two words, which is not, I think, accidental.

Anonymous, skolion PMG 892

ὁ καρκίνος ὧδ’ ἔφα
χαλᾷ τὸν ὄφιν λαβών·
“εὐθὺν χρὴ τὸν ἑταῖρον ἔμ-
μεν καὶ μὴ σκολιὰ φρονεῖν.”

The crab said to the snake it had caught in its claw: ‘A comrade must be frank and not think crooked thoughts.’

Anonymous, Greek Anthology 7.704

ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί·
οὐδὲν μέλει μοι. τἀμὰ γὰρ καλῶς ἔχει.

When I’m dead let the earth be mixed up with fire. It doesn’t bother me one bit; my affairs are doing well.

Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes, 17-19

Hermes grows up fast.

ἠῷος γεγονὼς μέσῳ ἤματι ἐγκιθάριζεν,
ἑσπέριος βοῦς κλέψεν ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος
τετράδι τῇ προτέρῃ, τῇ μιν τέκε πότνια Μαῖα.

Born at dawn, by midday he was playing on the lyre;  in the evening he stole the cattle of Apollo the far-shooter, on the fourth of the month, the day when lady Maia gave birth to him.

[Aristotle], On Wondrous Things 83

ἐν Kρήτῃ λύκους καὶ ἄρκτους τοὺς τ’ ἔχεις, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια τούτοις θηρία οὔ φασι γίνεσθαι, διὰ τὸ τὸν Δία γενέσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ.

They say that on Crete there are no wolves, bears, snakes, or likewise any beasts of this sort, because of Zeus’ having been born in that place.

[Xenophon], Constitution of the Athenians, 1.1

The writer of this is not Xenophon but an anonymous author now known affectionately as the ‘Old Oligarch’. Whether he was actually old is anyone’s guess… He doesn’t really approve of democracy:

περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἀθηναίων πολιτείας, ὅτι μὲν εἵλοντο τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῆς πολιτείας οὐκ ἐπαινῶ διὰ τόδε, ὅτι ταῦθ᾽ ἑλόμενοι εἵλοντο τοὺς πονηροὺς ἄμεινον πράττειν ἢ τοὺς χρηστούς· διὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπαινῶ. ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῦτα ἔδοξεν οὕτως αὐτοῖς, ὡς εὖ διασῴζονται τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ τἆλλα διαπράττονται ἃ δοκοῦσιν ἁμαρτάνειν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι, τοῦτ᾽ ἀποδείξω.

And concerning the Athenians’ constitution, I do not think well of their having chosen this sort of constitution, because by making that choice they have chosen to let the common people do better than the good people. This is the reason why I do not praise it. But since they have made this decision for themselves, I shall show that they are preserving their constitution in a good way, and that they do accomplish those other things which the other Greeks think they are doing in the wrong way.

anonymous, CIL IV 813

A notice from Pompeii, in hexameter form.

otiosis locus hic non est; discede morator.

This is no place for idlers; go away, loiterer!

anonymous, CIL III 293

A single trochaic septenarius from an epitaph.

dum vixi bibi libenter. bibite vos qui vivitis.

While I was alive I drank gladly. Drink, you who are alive!

Anonymous, Martyrdom of Pionius 4

The beginning of Pionius’ speech in his own defence, addressed to the citizens of Smyrna. He has refused to obey the Emperor’s command to sacrifice to the pagan gods.

tum martyribus in medio constitutis, Polemon ait, ‘bonum est, Pioni, et te sicut ceteros obedire, ac iussa complent, declinare supplicia.’ sed beatus martyr Polemonis sermone percepto, extensa manu, laeto et alacri vultu tali oratione respondit: ‘vos viri qui exultatis pulcritudine moenium, et Smyrnae civitatis decore gaudetis, et Homero poeta gloriamini, et si qui vobiscum ex Iudaeis adsunt, paucis audite, vos alloquor. audio enim quod irrideatis eos qui ad sacrificandum, aut sponte prosiliunt, aut alio cogente non renuunt; et in illis levitatem pectoris, in his spontaneum damnetis errorem, cum oporteret vos Homero doctori vestro, ac magistro pariter obedire, qui asserit nefas esse exultare de defunctis, nec ullum conflictum cum luce cassis, aut certamen debere esse cum mortuis.’

Then, when the martyrs had stood in the midst, Polemon said, ‘It would be a good thing, Pionius, for you to obey like the others and, by fulfilling the command, to avoid the tortures.’ But on hearing Polemon’s words, the blessed martyr put out his hand and replied, a glad and cheerful expression on his face, with the following speech: ‘You men who delight in the beauty of your city-walls, who are glad at the splendour of your city, and who boast of Homer your poet, listen – and any of the Jews who might also be among your number – to the few words I say to you. For I hear that you deride those who are either zealous to sacrifice of their own accord, or who do not refuse to do so when forced by another; in the first case you would condemn them for their levity of spirit, in the latter, for a voluntary error, when you ought to obey Homer, your teacher and master, who declares that it is impious to exult in the dead, and that you should not fight in vain with the light, or compete with the dead.’

Smyrna was one of the cities which claimed to be Homer’s birthplace. The passage alluded to is Odyssey 22.412.

[Homer], Margites fr.2

The comic epic Margites was often attributed to Homer, probably wrongly (although, to be fair, attributing anything to a single person called ‘Homer’ probably doesn’t make much sense anyway…). As we learn here, the poem’s hero was the very opposite of the cunning Odysseus ‘of many wiles’:

τὸν δ’ οὔτ’ ἂρ σκαπτῆρα θεοὶ θέσαν οὔτ’ ἀροτῆρα,
οὔτ’ ἄλλως τι σοφόν· πάσης δ’ ἠμάρτανε τέχνης.

The gods did not make him a digger or a ploughman, or wise at all in anything else: he failed at every skill.